Yule; Blessed Wishes.
Looking around the abandoned common room, it finally occurred to Harry that he was actually the only one left in Gryffindor Tower for Yule that year. He knew that he was the only one of his year to stay behind, but he thought there might have been at least a handful of students from the others years that might have stayed behind. Trying not to dwell on his impending loneliness, Harry decided he'd take advantage of the quiet Hogwarts ground and go for a pleasant walk.
Bundled up in his house scarf and hat, Harry enjoyed the surprisingly pleasant winter weather and spent most of his afternoon doing wandering the vast grounds of Hogwarts, doing absolutely nothing for what felt like the first time in his life. At that moment there was no mad man bent on destroying him; there was no lingering looks from people either too scared of him or for him; no putting on a brave face to stop his friends from worrying about him. It was just Harry and the quiet Scottish countryside.
Enjoying the peacefulness of the winter day, Harry didn't even realise that he had missed lunch and it was only the darkening of the sky that brought his attention to the time of day it actually it was and he decided that he was better off returning to the castle to try and warm up before diner in a couple of hours' time.
Arriving at the entrance hall, he was just about to start the long climb up to the Gryffindor Tower when he heard his name being called from behind. Spinning around he was shocked to see Astoria Greengrass stood at the top of the stairs leading to the dungeons, beckoning him towards her. "Astoria? I didn't realise you had stayed behind for Christmas," Harry remarked as he reached the younger girl.
"Mother and Farther decided to avoid the miserable English weather and took a trip to Italy," Astoria told him with a nonchalant shrug, clearly not fussed about staying at Hogwarts for the winter holiday. "Daphne has set up our Yule Log in the Slytherin common room, when I saw you heading back up, I thought you might like to join us?" she asked him with a warm smile.
"Isn't a Yule Log a chocolate cake served at Christmas?" Harry asked as he followed the young Ravenclaw down into the dungeons, trying not to panic too much at being led into the heart of what most people considered his enemies. Astoria didn't lead him astray when she took him to the Samhain Fire, he didn't think she would lead him astray now.
Astoria turned to him to give him a look that he could only describe as condescending. "Haven't you learnt anything from your Samhain tradition revelations? There's more to celebrations than meet the eye," Astoria reminded him as they reached the wall leading to the Slytherin Common room, drawing her wand and tapping on the bricks to open the doorway to them. "Daphne? We're here," Astoria shouted out to the sister as the two of them made their way onto the Slytherin common room.
"We? What stray have you found this time, mother and father won't let you keep anymore wild animals Tory, no matter how much you pout," Daphne remarked as she made her way up the stairs from what Harry knew to the bedrooms from his little adventure into the Snake Den in second year. When she clapped eyes on Harry though she stopped in her tracks and he could see the shock on her face at the sight of him in the heart of Slytherin. "Well, they certainly won't let you keep him, but at least he's house-trained," she remarked as she continued to make her way to the sofa's. "Or at least I hope he is?" she added with a questioning raised brow in Harry's direction.
"I'll behave if you will," Harry told her with a small smile, hoping to reassure her.
"Come on you two, there are no house tonight, just school mates celebrating," Astoria told them both before Daphne could respond to Harry's comment. "I see you've lit the Yule log already; do you have enough parchment for all us?" Astoria asked as she made her way over to the fireplace.
"Yes, there'll be enough, don't worry," Daphne told her little sister as they all gathered around the fireplace, where a log of drift-wood was happily burning away, throwing green and blue flames up into the chimney, giving off a comforting warmth that seemed to chance away the chills of winter. "Do you even know what we're doing here?" Daphne asked of Harry as she handed him some parchment and a quill.
"Not really, but I trust Astoria not to lead me astray in my education into the old traditions," Harry admitted, smiling over at the young girl. "She opened my eyes to a new and happier way to celebrating Halloween, or Samhain should I say. I'm curious as to what I can be taught about Yule," he admitted, much to the surprise of his classmate.
"Well, to start off, we're going to write our thanks for the year and burn them," Astoria told him as she started to write down her own thanks, leaving Daphne to talk Harry though what the tradition was all about.
"During the winter solstice, we offer our thanks to the Winter Goddess for all that's come to pass over the last year and to encourage good luck for the last remaining weeks of winter," Daphne explained to Harry. "It stems from a time when people tended to pass on to their next great adventure during the cold months, so this was a way of showing your gratitude that you'd survived."
Nodding Harry rested his parchment against his knee as he thought of exactly what he should be thankful for. He knew he was thankful to have survived the trials and tribulations of the last year, but as he thought back on the arguments he'd had with his friends over the last couple of weeks, he didn't feel like he had much to be thankful for. Though, as he thought about it more, with the number of people who accused him of lying last year, he was thankful that his friends hadn't abandoned him and cared enough about him, despite his bad attitude towards them.
I'm thankful, that although I've not been the easiest person to be around, that my friends, the ones I care most about in this world, haven't abandoned me during the hard times and have celebrated with me during the high times, though they might be few and far between. I'm grateful to have been introduced to new friends, such as Astoria, who has introduced me to an entire new part of our world and opened my eyes as to why some people don't want the old ways to fade out of existence.
Finished with his note of thanks, Harry looked up and was surprised to find Astoria leaning close to the fire and letting her own note catch on fire, sending ashes up into the chimney and into the dark winters sky. Seeing the confused look upon Harry's face, Daphne explained as she moved closer to the flame, "We burn our notes so that the Winter Goddess can absorb the essence of what we've written, kind of like when Muggle children send letters to Santa up the chimney," she explained as she too set her note on fire.
When the last of the ashes from Daphne's note had vanished up the chimney, Harry leant over and lit his own note and watched as though the parchments ashes seemed to be caught up in a gentle wind and carried up and away and before he knew it, there was nothing left of his note of thanks so he looked back over at Astoria and Daphne to see what else they were doing and saw Astoria nibbling on gingerbread as she twirled her quill around her fingers, clearly deep in thought.
Looking over at Daphne, Harry saw that she was holding out a gingerbread man for him with a small smile. "Nibble on this while you think of what you want to achieve over the next year. Once you're done, write it down and we'll send it up the chimney like the last," Daphne explained to him before she started to write down on her own parchment, leaving Harry to his own thoughts.
As Harry thought about what he wanted to bless over the next year, he asked Daphne and Astoria more about their Yule traditions and discovered that when they were at home the sisters enjoyed baking with their mother and that usually it was their father that sought out and burned the Yule Log while the girls weaved wreaths from twigs and holly to give to their friends as part of the Pureblood traditions that the family observed.
It was while the sisters were regaling him with stories from their childhood at Yuletide that Harry realised what it was, he wanted blessing for the year to come.
May you bless the year ahead of me and bless me and my new friendship with Astoria and Daphne, they've shown me kindness that few other have. May you bless my friends so that they are happy and healthy throughout the year. May you give me the strength and courage to face the challenges that are no-doubt in my future. I so wish to see what the future holds for me …
Looking back over at the smiling sisters he couldn't help but notice that Daphne had a sweet smile painted across her lips as she looked over at him through her eyelashes and he couldn't help but grin to himself.
… especially if my future features the beautiful Daphne Greengrass.
Well, this is slightly late but here is the final instalment of my Wheel of the Year series, Yule. Technically Yule runs from the 21st December to 2nd January, but I've been doing 12 hour shifts at work and learning to drive (finally!) so it's been a pretty hectic couple of months, but it's finally completed and I thought it would make a good New Year gift.
Hope you've enjoyed this series and have a Happy New Year!